What does VasSpyApplet ?
When VasSpyApplet will work from my page ?
How to configure the applet ?
How to see if my webserver is a mailserver ?
My webserver is also a mailserver, but it does not work !
How all this sending mail stuff works ?
Everything is OK, but why sometimes I don't receive mails ?
What to do if my webserver is not a mailserver ?
Why do I get always this host/IP address : localhost/127.0.0.1 ?
How to get the real IP address of the visitor ?
Why do I get the wrong time ?
Why it shows so few total/free memory ?
It is possible to see the e-mail adress of the visitor ?
What means : "And that's not all !" ?
I made everything but it's still not working. What to do ?
Tips & Tricks
- What does VasSpyApplet ?
It takes the main information from the visitor's computer and sends this information to the specified e-mail address. So, you can see the profile of your visitors, the geographical distribution ...
- When VasSpyApplet will work from my page ?
In order to work, the hosting web server must be in the same time a mail server (SMTP).
- How to configure the applet ?
Currently, you have 5 parameters to configure :
to
- put here the e-mail address where you want to receive the mails, for example "vasile@club-internet.fr"
from
- put here the e-mail address of the sender, for example "vasile@chez.com". It can be the same address as the addressee or another one, but must be yours.
msg
- put here the text you want the browser display in the StatusBar when the applet is already loaded. The browser will show "your_message" instead of "Running applet VasSpyApplet". It can be for example " ".
color
- to change the background color of VasSpyApplet by putting the color you want (better to be the same as the HTML page's). The applet then will be invisible for the visitor. For example put "#FFFFFF" to obtain the white color or "#000000" for a black one.
subject
- put here the subject of the e-mail you want to receive, for example "VasSpyApplet"
Also, you can specify the name of the applet. So, the browser will show "Loading applet you_name_here" instead of "Loading applet VasSpyApplet". For example, you can put NAME="Vasile".
- How to see if my webserver is a mailserver ?
To see if your web server is also a mail server (SMTP), under the command prompt type (when you are connected, of course) :
telnet your_web_server 25
, for example
telnet www.chez.com 25
for my page.
If you have no errors, and it connects to, then the webserver is a mail server (SMTP) too.
- My webserver is also a mailserver, but it does not work !
Some mailservers are configured in order to not send mails outside their domain. It's means that they do not relay mails to other mailboxes then their own. To see if your mailserver relay or not, you have to try a complete SMTP session. For example :
220 ESMTP Sendmail 8.8.5/8.8.5; Sun, 7 Sep 1997 22:17:10 -1000
helo vasile.md
250 Hello vasile.md [194.158.108.66], pleased to meet you
mail from: vasile@club-internet.fr
250 vasile@club-internet.fr... Sender ok
rcpt to: vasile@club-internet.fr
571 vasile@club-internet.fr... Mail relaying for ppp-108-66.villette.club-internet.fr denied.
The replay can also be : 553 vasile@club-internet.fr... We do not support relaying
Possible solutions : send the mails to a local address, ie to an address recognised by the SMTP server or use codebase tag.
- How all this sending mail stuff works ?
Nothing complicated here. This is a standard SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) communication. Described in RFC (request for comments) number 821 at http://www.internic.net/rfc/rfc821.txt
- You say
HELO "your_host"<CarriageReturn/LineFeed>
to the server (in general, you can put whatever you want there)
- You say
MAIL FROM: you@youserver.com<CR/LF>
- You say
RCPT TO: the_person@you_contact.com<CR/LF>
- You say
DATA<CR/LF>
- You put the body of the e-mail
- You type
.<CR/LF>
at the end of the message
- You say
QUIT<CR/LF>
Type HELP<CR/LF>
if you have problems.
SMTP command keywords are case insensitive.
- Everything is OK, but why sometimes I don't receive mails ?
This applet may not work if the visitor is behind a firewall, where some connections are restricted. Also, sometimes the security configuration of Internet Explorer 4 does not allow the applets to connect to remote hosts. Or www.chez.com server is down (it happens).
- What to do if my webserver is not a mailserver ?
You can launch this applet from my web page (using codebase) like this:
<APPLET CODEBASE="http://www.chez.com/vasile/spy/"
CODE=VasSpyApplet.class WIDTH=5 HEIGHT=5 NAME="Vasile">
<PARAM NAME=from VALUE="vasile@chez.com">
<PARAM NAME=to VALUE="vasile@club-internet.fr">
<PARAM NAME=msg VALUE=" ">
<PARAM NAME=color VALUE="#B4B88C">
<PARAM NAME=subject VALUE="VasSpyApplet">
</APPLET>
- Why do I get always this host/IP address : localhost/127.0.0.1 ?
For security reasons, MSIExplorer always give this host/IP address (in order to avoid revealing IP addresses which are behind a firewall). However, you can get the real IP address. :-)
- How to get the real IP address of the visitor ?
In order to have the real IP address of the visitor, look at all the headers of the mails received from VasSpyApplet. See this example.
- Why do I get the wrong time ?
It's a Netscape 4 bug. Netscape developers think California is the center of the universe, so they always give PST (GMT-9) time. :-)
- Why it shows so few total/free memory ?
In fact, it shows the state of Java Virtual Machine's memory, and not the computer's one.
- It is possible to see the e-mail adress of the visitor ?
No it's not possible. Simply no way to have it. In fact, a browser is not obliged to have a integrated e-mail client (for example, IE3 hasn't). Even if the browser has one, not all the people configure it well and use this module.
- What means : "And that's not all !" ?
This means that I'm hardly working on a new version of VasSpyApplet. :-) It will be available very soon. Stay tuned.
- I made everything but it's still not working. What to do ?
Verify if your webserver is a mailserver too. If not, use codebase tag. Configure the applet properly. Check if you are not behind a firewall (if you are trying from your company's network, it's almost sure you are behind a firewall). Check if you have a Java-enabled browser (Netscape 2.02 or above, MSIE 3.0 or above). If it's still not working, contact the author (give as much details as you can).
Don't forget that computers make never mistakes, there's always a human error. Even when creating buggy computers. :-)
Tips & Tricks
- Take a look at the real IP address of the visitor.
- If you have only the numeric IP address of the visitor, take a look at his local time zone (the difference between the GMT time and the local one).
- If you have only the numeric IP address of the visitor, you can perform a traceroute (tracert under win95) to his address. So, you'll see where he's located.
- For a better use, put the applet tag at the top of the HTML page. It will load the applet faster and will send the mail immediatly, even if the visitor already left the page.
- The best way to make the applet working is to take the source code and recompile it with "hard-coded" values. In fact, sometimes the browser pass incorrectly the parameters to the applet. Contact the author if you have problems.
VasSpyApplet page
Registration stuff
Last updated February 20, 1998




© 1997, 98 Vasile Calmatui